Former President Donald Trump’s campaign cast Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict on felony gun charges Tuesday as a “distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family,” while not mentioning President Joe Biden’s son by name.
“This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a prepared statement. “Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit.”
The statement appears to be a modified version of one initially provided to CNN, which included well wishes for Hunter Biden “in his recovery and legal affairs.” That line, the only to include Hunter Biden’s name, did not appear in the statement Trump’s campaign sent out more widely about an hour later.
Trump and his allies have long accused the president of profiting off his son’s business dealings, even as they have struggled to substantiate the charges or convince voters of them. A GOP impeachment inquiry in the House has stalled. House Oversight Chair James ComerJames Comer (R-Ky.), who has been leading investigations into Biden, called the verdict a “step toward accountability” but blamed the Department of Justice for not investigating his business dealings and providing the president cover.
Other Republicans’ reactions to the verdict were all over the map. Some cast Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict as a moment of “accountability” and “equal application of the law,” less than two weeks after a jury convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan criminal trial.
“Today’s verdict is a step towards ensuring equal application of the law, regardless of one's last name,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) posted on X.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) wrote on X that he is “glad to see that justice has been served. Nobody is above the law, including the President’s son.”
Others were conspiratorial, suggesting without evidence that the Department of Justice did not proceed with other cases against Hunter Biden that could potentially tie back to the president. Hunter Biden is facing a separate trial in California on federal tax charges. That case isn’t expected to go to trial until the fall.
“DOJ is Joe’s election protection racket,” former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller wrote on X.
“Never forget DOJ tried to avoid this trial & verdict by giving Hunter a sweetheart plea deal. Until the judge exposed them,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) posted on X. Last summer, a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have spared him from an election year trial fell apart.
Others tried to have it both ways. Kash Patel, a former national security adviser to Trump, said the verdict “demonstrates a fleeing moment of justice for all” — while also arguing that the trials of the former president and his rival’s son “expose the inequities in our legal system based on its weaponization.”
And then there was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who said: “The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb tbh.”
Biden said in a statement Tuesday that he “will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” He previously told ABC News that he would not pardon his son.
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